Canyonlands National Park

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Canyonlands was one of our stops on our Honeymoon road trip and it did not disappoint!

We drove into Canyonlands after staying in the very fun town of Moab outside of Arches. Canyonlands is a multi entrance park that the roads DO NOT connect in the middle - meaning if you want to see a different part you have to drive out and around. This can take about two hours or more depending on where you are. We opted for Canyon in the Sky portion as the Needles seemed like a FULL day’s hike and we were very wary of the weather. Since the weather was so crappy (flash rain and hail, windy with thirty degrees below season average) we opted to not do any additional hikes but to drive to lookout points and do the main Canyon Arch trail.

The arch is what this hike and spot are known for, however, I found the canyon to be the most rewarding part of the short hike. It was honestly better than the grand canyon because I felt it was more visible and not just deep. This hike was very easy, but honestly very miserable in the cold - only because we were underdressed. This is also not for someone very afraid of heights.

Since two other hikes were closed and the weather was bad we did drive the rest of the park. Canyonlands is very strange in the Sky Section because you have to drive through literally prairies to get there which was surprising to find all the way out there. I do wish we would have made a stop at the Needles as well to really round out the day, but there’s always time for another trip I guess! It took us about four hours to drive there from Moab, do the hike, drive around and get back out of the park to the main road. However, preload your map because you will lose ALL cell service the second you leave Moab. Check out our post about Arches to see where we stayed in Moab!